1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to blister packing machinery and, more particularly, to apparatus for first creating a two-layer laminate constituting a blister pack for pills or the like and additional apparatus to feed information-bearing cards into association with the two-layer laminate and to ultrasonically weld the cards onto the two-layer laminate to thereby form a three-part laminate which is then cut to size, all in a continuous and automatic cycle of operation.
2. Description of the Background Art
One common technique for packaging and merchandising pills or the like is the blister pack. A blister pack is a card containing a plurality of pills which may be individually pushed out from the card for consumption. In association with such blister packs, it has been a common practice to attach an information-bearing card with data relating to the contents of the particular pill or pills to be dispensed therefrom. Since each pill within the blister pack may be different than all others, there is an increased need to place the information-bearing card onto the blister pack in the proper orientation to insure proper consumption.
Conventional blister packaging machinery includes an automatic assembly line which generates the blister pack. The blister packs are formed from two continuous webs of material. A base or lower web is formed from a sheet of plastic material which is deformed to create wells, each for receiving one pill. Coupled thereto is a web of rupturable material, the lid, through which the pills in the wells may be dispensed. It is a common practice for machinery to generate such blister packs in a continuous cycle of operation. It is also a common practice to cut the blister packs into a proper size as they come off the line and then to manually attach a single information-bearing card to each blister pack.
Various attempts have been made to automate fabrication of blister packs to one extent or another. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,970,414 to Rohdin discloses apparatus for forming, filling and sealing blister packs. Such apparatus includes a card feeding station which deposits a single information-bearing card over each set of pills of a single blister pack. The blister packs are then cut by a device separating each blister pack from its next following blister pack, transverse to the path of travel through the apparatus. There is no teaching of continuous and automatic machinery which feeds information-bearing cards onto the lower surface of a two-layer blister pack laminate and which then seals together the three-layer blister pack laminate.
A second prior patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,182 to Nichols also discloses a machine for forming blister packs. The blister packs are formed by a base sheet and a cover sheet with pills therebetween. The cover sheet is preferably formed of cardboard with printed material preformed on the surface of the sheets.
Other patents and interests include U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,588 to Scott and U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,907 to Roach. The Scott patent discloses a method for forming a reclosable packaging system while Roach discloses packaging apparatus for forming and filling flexible packages. The apparatus includes a cover unit and cutter. Other prior patents disclosing blister packaging machinery include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,118,262 to Messick; 3,874,143 to Braber and 4,506,495 to Romagnoli.
All of the known background patents disclose one technique or another for improving blister packages or machines for fabricating blister packs. No prior art patent, however, discloses efficient, reliable, inexpensive apparatus for fabricating three-layer blister packs with information bearing cards secured by ultrasonic welding in the improved continuous and automatic manner as disclosed herein.
The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objects, and advantages through a new, useful and unobvious combination of component elements, with the use of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, and by employing only readily available materials.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a system for fabricating blister packs containing pills to be individually dispensed therefrom, the system comprising a first reel for supporting a web of plastic material located adjacent to the input end of the system, the plastic material constituting the lid material of the blister packs; intermittent drive means located adjacent to the output end of the system to feed the plastic material and associated material in a step and repeat manner along a linear path of travel through the system; well forming means along the path of travel downstream from the first reel adapted to form individual pill receiving wells in a conveyed web of plastic corresponding to a plurality blister packs extending transversely across the web of plastic material; dispensing means along the path of travel downstream from the well forming means adapted to dispense individual pills into the individual wells: a second reel for supporting a web of rupturable material located above the path of travel downstream from the dispensing means to feed rupturable material onto the web of plastic material for movement therewith, the rupturable material constituting the lid material of the blister pack; heating means located along the path of travel downstream from the second reel to fuse the plastic material to the rupturable material with pills therebetween and thereby form a two-part laminate; support means downstream from the heating means and laterally offset from the path of travel for retaining a stack of apertured information-bearing cards in an operative orientation for being fed therefrom; pick and place means with associated rail means located between the support means and the path of travel adapted to sequentially pick information-bearing cards from the support means and to place the picked card onto the rail means adjacent to, but offset from, the path of travel; piston means located beneath the rail means adapted to shift the placed card to a location beneath the web of plastic material with the wells of the plastic material vertically aligned with the apertures of the card; ultrasonic welding means along the path of travel adapted to raise the shifted card into contact with the plastic material and to couple the plastic material, with the rupturable material thereabove, with the raised card therebeneath to form a three part laminate: punching means along the path of travel downstream from the ultrasonic welding means to cut the laminate along the path of travel and transverse thereto for forming blister packs in a continuous and automatic cycle of operation; and third reel means located along the path of travel adjacent to the output means to receive the remaining material of the three-part laminate after the cutting of the blister packs therefrom.
It is a further object of the present invention to continuously and automatically couple information-bearing cards to blister packs by ultrasonic welding.
It is a further object of the present invention to ensure the proper placement of information-bearing cards on a blister pack so that the specific information properly represents the particular pills in the blister pack.
It is a further object of the present invention to abate errors of card placement onto blister packs through an automated process.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of this invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the present invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or by modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.